Robotti cross-examined in Kelowna second-degree murder trial

Grace Robotti was soft-spoken on the witness stand on Friday, her voice cracking at times during cross-examination.

She often claimed she didn’t have a clear memory of the events of Jan. 4, 2015 — the day she admits to killing 26-year-old Roxanne Louie.

Louie was the mother of Robotti’s great-grandson. The pair were in Penticton over the holiday season, when an altercation over how the boy should be cared for turned deadly.

Robotti admited to retrieving a crowbar that Louie was threatening her with. She said she struck Louie with it several times while her brother Pier restrained the younger woman.

On Friday, Grace Robotti testified that her brother may have left the darkened bedroom where the fight occurred after she dropped the crowbar to the floor.

She said that Louie tried to grab the crowbar again, and that’s when she picked it up and continued to strike the single mother until she was still.

Louie’s death was caused by at least 26 blows to the head.

When she couldn’t find a pulse on the injured woman, Robotti said she asked her brother Pier to do something with the body, while she began cleaning up the blood.

Robotti claims she always intended to go to the police, but needed a few days to make sure her great-grandson would be taken care of.

The Crown pointed out that Robotti did not call an ambulance, even though she had no medical training to determine if the woman was dead.

She also gathered up Louie’s belongings and deposited them in several garbage bins around Penticton.

At one point she texted and called Louie’s phone, leaving concerned messages about her whereabouts.

The Crown suggested that Robotti never intended to go to the police.

“No, that wasn’t the case,” Robotti said. “It was something too horrible. You can’t…bury something like that.”

The Crown questioned Robotti further, and suggested the killing was not planned but was intentional.

“No. I could have hit her a lot harder than I did. A lot. But I didn’t,” Robotti said.

The session wrapped with one more witness, Grace Robotti’s grandson Dylan Spence, who is the father of Roxanne Louie’s son.

He testified that Louie was often violent during their on-again, off-again relationship, with the police being called several times.

Charges were laid against both Spence and Louie on one occasion, but were stayed.

On cross-examination, Spence insisted that in every violent incident Louie had been the instigator, and alcohol was often involved.

The trial will continue in Kelowna court on Monday.